Straw Bales for Shelter

Straw Bales for Shelter: a guide for building emergency shelters with bales is available for download now.  This new guide is free to download and share courtesy of Matts Myhrman, David Eisenberg and Robert Cook. It offers clear explanations and excellent details for straw bale shelter construction. Table of ContentsIntroduction 3Site preparation and moisture barrier … Read more

Hemp Has Helped Preserve the Ellora Caves in India

The Ellora Caves in Mumbai Harbour are a magnificent complex of rock-cut caves with artwork dating back to 1000 CE, but the formations have stood the test of time.  Archaeologists have wondered why they were in such good condition. Was it a special kind of rock that served as the foundation? Were there ancient principles … Read more

Building Warm Homes and Community at Pine Ridge Reservation

A home is so much more than its physical manifestation in the world. It is a place of togetherness, of gathering, of sharing, and of connecting. The mission of inourhands.love is to leverage their building technique to support those in need by providing warmth, stability, economic opportunity, and hope. The act of building a home … Read more

Lego-Like Hempcrete Blocks

These hempcrete blocks are a green building material made with a hemp-lime insulation mixture packed around a biocomposite structural frame. They can be stacked like bricks to build walls up to 30 feet high and they become the insulation and the structure of the building. All you need to do after the walls are built … Read more

The Value of Straw Wattle Walls

I recently received this message from Patti Stouter, who has been a long time advocate and experimenter with earthbags and other natural technologies, especially as a means for surviving earthquakes and other calamities: I am beginning a test shelter project of straw wattle that may be helpful in both Ukraine and Turkey, so this report … Read more